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“Gardai monitor their activities very closely and take any appropriate operational responses.

“They take all appropriate actions in respect of any threat identified or any persons who may present a threat.

“It is estimated in the order of 25 people have travelled from Ireland to take part in the conflict in the Middle East since 2011 and it is understood in the order of five of them have lost their lives there.

“It should be emphasised there are difficulties in securing reliable information about such matters from conflict areas.” One of the Irish fighters believed to be dead is Abu Osama Al-Irlandi, better known as “Khalid Kelly” who was reportedly killed after carrying out a suicide attack in Mosul in 2016.

Kelly, a former nurse who appeared on The Late Late Show in 2003, had previously been arrested by Irish forces over a plot to murder Barack Obama in 2011 but was later released without charge.

Since the fall of the caliphate, it is estimated thousands of foreign fighters will be trying to re-enter their homelands across the world with many being based in Europe.

bomber

In the UK, more than 800 citizens are estimated to have joined the group in the past six years including Manchester bomber Salman Abedi who carried out the attack after returning from Syria.

Other members of the group are believed to be re-locating to other unstable regions such as Afghanistan and Pakistan where militant numbers are reported to be rising.